1996 Volkswagen Jetta GL 2.0 GAS from North America

Summary:

Faults:

Transmission was broken down at 100,000 miles. Ignition switch went bad at 120,000 miles causing the starter to blow. Ignition coil cracked, hard to start when the weather's wet. Head lamp bulbs keep blowing up. Oil flange was cracked causing oil leaking at 160,000.

General Comments:

This car possesses good handling, precise steering, but it has too many reliability problems. I have 3 of them in my family, and I spent almost 15,000 dollars on repair for all of them. My previously owned Toyota Tercel got me no problems after I bought it at 130,000 miles. I recommend not to buy Jetta.

24th Dec 2005, 08:10

I owned a 1996 Jetta GLX VR6 and I completely agree with you that they are very expensive to maintain. The car was nothing but trouble from the day I bought it. I sold the car about 2 months ago and bought a Honda with 151,000 miles and it runs like a brand new car, faster than the Jetta VR6 ever was. I bought a new set of spark plug wires for only $22.00. The Jetta's Spark Plug wires cost $136.00!! Do yourself a favor and sell all your VW's and buy a Honda or Toyota if you want reliability. VW's look great, but it's not worth spending a fortune to keep them running. VW dealers are making a LOT of money off people driving their cars because only the dealer can work on them.

At 85,000 miles, as routine maintenance I needed to replace the timing belt, the water pump and as a bonus found an oil leak in the oil sending unit. All together these things cost $389 including labor.

At 89,500, car lost power, could maintain speed on hills and would start shaking when I accelerated too hard. Volkswagen dealership told me it was a clogged catalytic converter. They wanted $1100 just for the part, I got it done for $230.

Just recently at 91,000 miles it's had trouble starting in hot weather. I was going to get it fixed, but instead it conked out on me and stalled right outside a car wash. I needed to get it towed and it's still being looked at. They're saying it's the 02 sensor or the mass air flow sensor. I personally suspect the fuel pump.

General Comments:

This is a wonderful car if you take care of it. It will last forever if you stay on top of repairs and routine maintenance and make sure to fix every little problem before it develops into something larger. It handles better than my friends BMW, it gets fantastic mileage and I'm merging onto the highway in the blink of an eye.

Interior is nice, but inconvenient. It's OK for me because I'm a small guy, but taller people might have problems. Cup holders are useless and can't hold drinks while the car is in park. It also has no glove compartment, go figure? It's very simple to figure out and comes with decent standard features for it's price.

Let me finish by saying I love this car to death and it rarely fails me. It flies for a 4 cylinder engine, while getting good enough mileage that I can afford to drive it even with these gas prices. If you take care of it, it will take care of you, to 250,000 miles and beyond.